She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#local bookshop
#jacqueline wilson
#favourite author
#famous creation
#picture book
For IVPs new president and publisher, the first person of color to lead the house, ‘bold’ could be her middle name. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Octopus Books imprint Aster has acquired Fear Less, Live More by two-time GB Olympian Aimee Fuller. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-20 08:49:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#books imprint
Nine Eight, Bonnier Books UK's new music imprint, will publish Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike in November 2021, the first book to provide a "sympathetic yet objective re-examination of Britney Spears' cultural impact". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-19 02:29:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#bonnier
#cultural impact
#britney spears
#music imprint
Flint Books, an imprint of The History Press, has acquired two "urgent and instructive" titles on sustainability and climate change to publish in time for the COP26 summit in October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 22:17:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#climate change
#history press
#flint books
Fiona Sampson’s biography reads like a thriller, a memoir and a provocative piece of literary fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#memoir
#literary fiction
Nat Geo’s Explorer Academy series blends fact, fiction, and breathless adventure to deliver a unique reading experience. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#nat geo
#explorer academy
The rise of oil money led to fundamental shifts in U.S. relationships, David Wight argues. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-13 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
HarperNorth has acquired a book on regional inequality in the UK by journalist Sam Bright, chief politics and investigations reporter for Byline Times. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-09 10:36:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
“Napoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows” and “Empire’s Eagles: The Fate of the Napoleonic Elite in America” show unexpected sides of the military upstart Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-08-04 14:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#natural world
The U.S. Department of Labor's American Time Use survey found that the time Americans spent reading daily increased 21% in the May-December period in 2020 over the comparable period in 2019, rising to 34 minutes per day. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#survey found
News and Events The first-place winning design in the 2021 Neustadt Lit Fest poster design project by Sydney Sleeper University of Oklahoma students Sydney Sleeper, Andie Trillo and Jamie McCarley have been awarded first, second and third place,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-21 14:32:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#best-selling author
#visit neustadtprize
#neustadt prizes
#graphic designer
#provide feedback
#daniel simon
#visual communication
#young readers
#lit fest
#featured writers
Mr. Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner known for his coverage of human rights abuses and women’s rights, said friends were trying to recruit him into the race to replace Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-07-19 17:22:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#pulitzer prize
#times columnist
#nicholas kristof
Lauren Child's latest story focuses on Christmas in a Clarice Bean story that is full of empathy and hope Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-17 02:08:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#lauren child
I am a regular reader of @PublishingTea. This is a pastime I share with many others. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-16 02:15:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#regular reader
Chicago’s memoir, “The Flowering,” looks back at the uphill battle to make it in the art world as a woman. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#memoir
#uphill battle
#art world
"The notion of 'a book' is just a convenient fiction which we books go along with because it serves the needs of the bean counters in publishing, not to mention the ego of the writers. But the reality is far more complex.” So explains “the Book”, one of the narrators of Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 19:27:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#first novel
#sunday times
#ruth ozeki
American author Susan Choi has won the 2021 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award with her "luminous" story "Flashlight". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 16:07:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Here are some of the most bookish cities in the world, from the city with the most libraries to the best city for writers to live. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-07-02 10:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#libraries
The United Kingdom's Book Aid International has made donations of more than 160,000 books in nine countries to refugee youngsters. The post World Refugee Day Observances: Book Aid Highlights Its Outreach appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-06-29 20:02:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#book aid
#united kingdom
Julia Donaldson, Sara Ogilvie, Lemn Sissay, Ingrid Persaud and Jasbinder Bilan have won prizes at the Indie Book Awards, held as part of Independent Bookshop Week's celebrations. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-26 13:47:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#independent bookshop
#won prizes
#jasbinder bilan
#ingrid persaud
#lemn sissay
#julia donaldson